How to mobilize cultural relations for climate action?

The EUNIC Climate Culture(s) Creative Lab occurred in Berlin from 22 to 28 June 2023. As part of the Goethe-Institut’s presidency of EUNIC in 2022-2023, the Lab brought new connections and collaboration among EUNIC members on environmental, climate, and culture and supported emerging leadership in these areas.

The programme gathered 31 representatives from 19 EUNIC member organizations from both headquarters in Europe and branches around the world. Two colleagues of DutchCulture were selected as participants through an open call to all members for their expertise and engagement in culture and/or climate. The programme for the week in Berlin was collaboratively developed with the participants and built on three preparatory online meetings organised from March 2023.

With the help of DutchCulture, EUNIC and the Goethe Institut created a report on the urgency of the matter, offering concrete pathways forward for the network as a whole to contribute positively to the fight against climate change.

While it is one of DutchCulture's goals to promote opportunities for international exchange, we are well aware of the limits to this ideal; many forms of international mobility accelerate global heating. Ahead of the new policy period of 2025-2028, DutchCulture gathers better insight into the carbon footprint of the international mobility it facilitates and seeks to better understand how it can support and amplify positive changes sparked by the cultural and creative sectors in light of climate change. A useful definition in this regard is the Creative Climate Movement (as defined by Julie's Bicycle).

Formulating further ambitions is a key goal for us. Learning from concrete strategies, practices, and tools of organisations such as Julie's Bicycle as well as from EUNIC's many other members has been a great first leap in order to reach that goal. DutchCulture is committed to keeping the momentum going.

The conversation and the quest continue for EUNIC and for DutchCulture to grow into a legitimate and effective player, leveraging its network and expertise for positive change and climate action.

How can we take collective action and further mainstream climate action in the community of cultural relations practitioners gathered through EUNIC? What ambitious criteria and tools for environmental sustainability should be applied to the specific nature of our work? What are the key global advocacy moments where culture and cultural relations need to be more present in terms of the post-2030 Development agenda? What role must we play in enabling the global creative climate movement to thrive?

In order to find practical answers to these questions, EUNIC is commissioning a piece of work on the role of cultural relations for climate action that will pool, structure and advance existing resources from the network and support the development of more ambitious practical instruments for working in the field of cultural relations, climate and environment. Read more on this open call.